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BlackBerry's free Messenger chatting and voice calling app is now available for Windows Phone users, with Nokia users next in line, the company said.

BlackBerry Messenger provides features similar to those that are available on other platforms, including secure messaging, BBM Groups, BBM Voice, BBM Channels, Find Friends and BBM Feeds. It competes with such messaging services as WhatsApp, Line and WeChat.

The service previously was in the Windows Phone Store as a private beta app, then later was made available to users who had joined the BBM Beta program.

BBM will be available as a free download from the Windows Phone Store this summer. BBM for Nokia X will be available from the Nokia Store when the Nokia X platform launches.

"We are intent on bringing the most popular application experiences to Windows Phone, and with BBM, we are pleased to bring many of its top features to the Windows Phone platform," said Bryan Biniak, Nokia vice president and general manager for Developer Experience.

Free Calls

The suite of messaging and collaboration features bundled with BBM include:

BBM Chats, which offers users a Multi-Chat option, and the ability to receive real-time confirmations when messages are delivered and read.

The ability to create a profile that can be personalized with profile pictures or avatars and status updates visible in BBM’s Updates area.

BBM Groups, which can add up to 50 people to a message conversation, and which allows users to chat, share photos and share schedules.

Free voice calls between BBM contacts on Windows Phone, Nokia X, iPhone, Android and BlackBerry anywhere in the world using a data or Wi-Fi connection.

BBM Channels, which lets users join conversations with other users on BBM Channels or subscribe to a channel to message others who have shared interests.

Access to one-click sharing of photos, documents and voice notes.

Makeover Coming?

After a rough few years following its mid-2000s heyday, BlackBerry has attempted to reinvent itself by enhancing its business niches. One avenue for that has been BBM, which it made available to iOS and Android late last year. That partnership added more than 40 million registered users to the BBM user population.

The new BBM app is compatible with both Windows Phone 8 and 8.1, and has been designed to work seamlessly with the look and feel of the Windows Phone mobile operating system. The previously released iOS and Android versions of BBM have drawn fire from users for too closely resembling native BlackBerry apps.

At Tuesday's BlackBerry Security Summit, BlackBerry President John Sims told blog site N4BB that BBM applications for Apple's iOS and Google's Android operating systems might get a makeover before long.

BBM has more than 85 million active monthly users and 160 million registered users.